August CSISD Board Workshop/Meeting Recap

Board adopted 2013 budget, lowered tax rate for 2013-14 and called for a November bond election

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, August 20, 2013

August CSISD Board Workshop/Meeting Recap

Board adopted 2013 budget, lowered tax rate for 2013-14 and called for a November bond election

Note: This is an overview of some of the agenda items on the August board workshop and meeting. This recap does not include every item on the agendas. Official meeting minutes will be made available on www.csisd.org following approval at the September board meeting.

COLLEGE STATION , Texas – The College Station ISD Board of Trustees met Tuesday, August 19. The following discussions and actions are of note.

WORKSHOP

The budget, tax rate, and bond election were discussed in the workshop and adopted in the regular meeting.

REGULAR MEETING

2013-2014 Tax Rate: The total tax rate for College Station ISD for the 2013-2014 fiscal year will be $0.015 less than in 2012-13. The Interest and Sinking (I&S) rate will drop from $0.295 to $0.28 per $100 of valuation. This reduction in rate is due to an approximate five percent increase in taxable values as well as the district paying down some of it’s I&S debt.

The maintenance and operations rate will remain at $1.04 per $100 of evaluation, for a total rate of $1.32.

CSISD Tax Rate History

2005-06: $1.675

2006-07: $1.480

2007-08: $1.241

2008-09: $1.221

2009-10: $1.253

2010-11: $1.309

2011-12: $1.335

2012-13: $1.335

2013-14: $1.320

2013-14 Budget: The board adopted an operating budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year of $85,087,982. Projected revenue for the 2013-14 school year is $81,194,474, for a total planned budget deficit of $3,893,508. The deficit will be made up by using the district’s fund balance (savings account). The district is projected to have a remaining fund balance of $27,620,372 at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

The 83rd Texas Legislature increased some of the funding that was slashed in the 82nd legislative session. However, CSISD recovered slightly less than 20% of the funding it lost. In fact, CSISD would receive $5.8 million more in state funding for the 2013-14 fiscal year if the funding structure for the 2010-11 fiscal year were still in place.

November Bond Election Called: The board unanimously approved calling a bond election for November 5, 2013, for an amount of $83.5 million. If passed by the voters, the bond sale will have a property tax impact of $.05 to $.08 per $100 of evaluation for the 2014-15 fiscal year.

A panel of community members and district personnel met six times in the spring of 2013 to identify capital needs in CSISD. After studying the district’s enrollment history and projections, student demographic trends, the growth of the City of College Station, the committee concluded the following projects were of the highest priority (in order):

School Safety Upgrades - Projected cost: $3.9 million

Center for Alternative Learning - Projected cost: $15.5 million

Elementary No. 9 - Projected cost: 20 million

Technology - Projected cost: $6.1 million

Buses and Vehicles - Projected cost: $3 million

Deferred Maintenance - Projected cost: $12 million

AMCHS Renovations - $3.5 million

Land Acquisition - Projected cost: $5.5 million

Purchasing and Warehouse Center - $7.5 million

Renovating Current Purchasing and Warehouse - Projected cost: $6.5 million

In addition, the following items were discussed, but were not included in the 2013 bond package: